Rob peeked around the corner of the hall, brushing droopy brown hairs out of his eye's way. The coast was still clear; no grown-ups, no tattletales. Not that he was likely to get noticed anyway.
"Not as fun as I thought," he said aloud while rounding the corner. Kids were probably supposed to bring their friends when they skipped class. And do rebellious stuff, like graffiti, pranking teachers, or whatever. But he was just walking around by himself.
He stopped to lean against one of the many red lockers and sighed. His gaze drifted to the doors of the swimming pool room.
"I guess I could go for a swim."
Rob soon came out of the boy's locker room in a never-before-used pair of orange swim shorts.
The last time he swam was only a far-away, foggy memory. Not a good one, really. He mainly remembered the awful pain in his eye after he got pool water in it.
Still, he couldn't remember being able to stand in said pool, so he must have been little. Who was that behind him, holding his tiny waist to help him stay afloat?
Whatever, he couldn't remember. Now he was tall and ready to try again.
His pink toes rippled the flat surface of the water as he stepped in. The deeper he went, the colder it seemed to get. He shuddered and shivered, but soon his body adjusted.
He let out a sigh of relaxation. He kicked upwards and floated on his back, limbs splayed out like a big blue starfish. He waved his arms like an octopus. He danced in slow-motion. Most importantly, he looked around to make sure nobody was watching him act so silly.
In the middle of an elegant spin, his foot slipped on a round thingamabob at the bottom of the pool.
He yelped as he lost his balance and his head went under. The water seemed to turn into lava as it washed into his eye and down his throat.
"Ow!" he coughed while resurfacing. The stinging pool chemicals forced his eye shut. His feet couldn't find the bottom and his hands couldn't find the pool edges.
He paddled blindly and hoped he was heading for the shallow end.
He wasn't. His face slammed into the pool wall. He went limp for a moment, shocked by the impact.
Air. I need air.
He coughed bubbles underwater and forced himself to the surface again. The invisible world seemed to spin. He tried to hold on to the edge of the pool, but it was too slippery. He fell back under, tasting blood in his mouth and still failing to open his eye.
Air...
His body grew too weak to swim, and his brain too weak to panic. He became still, as if there was no need to move at all. As if he were just falling asleep in bed.
No air now. Just water.
Who knew drowning could be so peaceful?
...
Rob laid on his back on damp concrete as he coughed and wheezed uncontrollably. His chest and ribs ached even worse than his head.
His eye, while it still hurt too, could finally open. He saw a brown-shelled face staring down at him.
Penny breathed a sigh of relief. "You're alive!"
"Wha... what happened?"
"Well, it looks like you almost drowned. You were laying at the bottom of the pool."
He weakly turned his head to look at the rippling water. "Oh, yeah... sorry about that."
"No, no, you're fine. I'm just really glad I came to swim practice early. And that Coach taught us how to do CPR."
His face heated up at the implications of her doing CPR on him. "Um, thanks, Penny."
"No, thank you. For not being dead. How did this happen, anyway?"
"Uh..." he chuckled sheepishly. "I thought I could swim?"
She chuckled. "I could help you learn to swim better."
He shuddered, suddenly aware of how cold he was. "No, thanks. I need a break from water right now."
"Understandable." She grabbed the towel next to her and draped it over his chest. "Oh, and I'm sorry, but I can't remember your name."
"I get that a lot. It's Rob."
"Rob," she repeated while helping him sit up. "Lets go get you dried off, and I'll take you to the nurse."